System of upper framing for railway-cars.



No. 774,205. PATENTED Nova, 1904.

G. W. SCOTT.

SYSTEM OF UPPERFRAMING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, 1900.

NO MODEL.

Patented November 8, 1904.

GEORGE W. SCOTT, OF PULLMAN, ILLINOIS.

SYSTEM OF UPPER FRAMING FO R RAILWAY-CARS- SPEOIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,205, dated November 8, 1904. Application file November 15. 1900. Serial No. 36,579. (No model.)

To aM whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. 800m, of Pullman, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of Upper Framing for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and improved system of upper framing for railway cars, and it has for its object to provide a unitary and self-contained structure, which shall combine a maximum of strength and rigidity with a minimum of weight, and which is adapted to be built independently of the floor structure and subsequently applied thereto.

In the construction of many forms of railway cars the common practice hitherto has been to consider the upper framing as an essential feature or element in the floor or load sustainingframing. That is to say, the upper side framing has been considered a portion of a general truss or girder, in which the side sill of the car is another part, and the construction of the upper framing has been treated as complementary of and auxiliary to the construction of the under framing in considering the load sustaining capacity of the car as a whole.

My present invention is based on a different theory of car construction in that it assumes that the floor framing of the car is sufficiently strong to carry the loads imposed without any assistance from the upper or side framing. WVith this fact in mind, it is clear that consideration concerning the upper fram ing need not be extended beyond the ability of the same to withstand the various wind, inertia and other shocks incidental to the ordinary operation of cars in service; this, of course, in addition to the capability of the upper framing as aifording a suitable base for the application of such inside or outside sheathing or finish as may be necessary or desirable. r

In a companion application of even filing date herewith, Serial N 0. 36,57 8, I have shown, described and claimed a system of under framing designed to afford a suitable base or floor for the applicationtheretoof an upper framing, such as constitutes the subject of my present invention. My present invention has been de signed more particularly with reference to its application to, and use in connection with, a floor framing like that disclosed in the application referred to; but it is of course capable of application to, and use with any other system or construction of floor framing, provided the latter be of suflicient strength to carry the loads imposed without assistance from the upper framing.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective View of one end of an upper car framing constructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A designates a floor framing, which, as it forms no part of my present invention, but is made the subject of the companion application hereinabove referred to, need not be herein particularly described. B represents the corner posts, C a series of side posts, and D a series of end posts. The corner posts and side posts are united at their upper ends by the parallel longitudinal plates E, which latter are tied together by a series of suitably spaced carlines F. In order to obtain increased rigidity to withstand endwise and sidewise shock and stress, I employ a series of diagonally disposed braces, or tension members, arranged and applied as follows: The braces G preferably unite the lower ends of the corner posts with the upper ends of the adjacent side posts; the end braces H similarly connect the lower ends of the corner posts with the upper ends of the adjacent end posts; and the longer braces I are designed to extend across diagonally and tie together two, three or more adjacent side poists, as may in practice be found most desirab e.

With reference to the material employed in the construction of my improved system of upper framing, it may be stated that I preferably construct the same entirely of metal parts, the latter being of such commercial forms or shapes as best combine lightness and strength. To this end I have shown the end posts, corner posts and plates as constructed of angle-iron; the side posts and carlines as constructed of T-beams, and the diagonal brace or tension members as formed of strap iron, the strain upon the latter being entirely a longitudinal and tensional one. The several parts enumerated will preferably be rigidly bolted together through the agency of suitable corner brackets K at the unions of all intersecting parts; but this mode of joining the parts is not of the essence of my invention, and any other known or preferred means for effecting this result may be employed if desired.

The entire upper frame, constructed and put together in the manner described, is adapted to be secured to the side and end sills of the under framing in any desired or approved manner, but I have herein shown the lower ends of the several posts as all bent inwardly at right angles to the post faces and securely bolted to the upper surface of the sills. This enables the upper framing to be quickly and easily secured to the lower framing in such a manner as to bring the outer faces of all the posts flush with the outer faces of the sills, thereby facilitating the application of the external covering of the car.

As an upper framing such as herein described is not designed or intended to bear any of the direct load strains (such strains being entirely provided for by the under framing) but merely to serve as the skeleton of a suitable canopy or covering to protect the load, the structure may and does dispense entirely with the usual struts and tie-bolts, the necessary rigidity being secured by the employment of the diagonal tension members G, H and I, adjacent members being preferably oppositely disposed, as shown, and thus serving also to securely anchor the upper framing to the floor of the car.

In resisting endwise shocks and stress it will be observed that with respect to one side of the framing, the tension member Grat one end thereof cooperates with the tension member I at the other end of the framing when resisting endwise stresses in one direction, and the corresponding tension members G and I at the respectively opposite ends of the sides of the framing cooperate in resisting longitudinal stresses in the opposite direction; while the plate E, or so much thereof as lies between the upper ends of the tension members G, cooperates with the latter in resisting longitunal shock in both directions, the stresses on said plate E being also purely tensional in both directions. This purely tensional or tierod character of all the several braces and plates constitutes an important feature of my present invention, and in the same resides the distinguishing novelty of my present invention over the prior art.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my present invention, in connection with the invention constituting the subject matter of the companion application hereinbefore referred to, contemplates the separate and independent construction of the upper and lower frame of the car, and their subsequent union substantially in the manner hereinabove described. There is believed to be a decided advantage in this theory or treatment of the subject of car building, for each portion of the car framing, that is to say, the upper and under can then be considered more definitely and independently in the direction of realizing the minimum cost, other things being equal, for labor and material, in addition to producing a superior construction as a whole. It is, therefore, thought that the system described constitutes an improvement'over other and more complicated methods of framing now in vogue.

I claim as my invention- 1. In an upper framing for railway cars, the combination with posts, plates and carlines, of oppositely diagonal braces applied to the ends of the side frame, said braces in conjunction with that portion of the plates lying between the upper ends of said braces having solely the character and function of tension members to resist thrust on the bottom chord, substantially as described.

2. In an upper framing for railway cars, the combination with posts, plates and carlines, of oppositely diagonal braces applied to the ends of the side frame; said side and end braces in conjunction with that portion of the plates and end carlines lying between the upper ends of said side and end braces respectively, having solely the character and function of tension members to resist endwise and sidewise shock and stress substantially as described.

3. An upper framing for railway cars comprising in combination upright corner and side posts, tension plates connecting the tops of said posts, and diagonal tension braces forming a means of connection between the tops of some of the side posts and the bottoms of other side posts and inducing a thrust on the car body when under stress, substantially as described.

4. A car frame comprising two side frames and two end frames each composed of one longitudinal and two diagonal tension members, a plurality of vertical thrust members, so designed that when the frame is applied to the car sill or body the whole will form a truss in which the inclined members and the top chord are in tension inducing a thrust upon the car body or sill, substantially as described.

5. A car frame consisting of two side frames and two end frames, each of said side and end frames comprising vertical thrust members and a top chord and two diagonal tension members which cooperate with the car body or sills and end plates to respectively form trusses in which longitudinal thrust is brought upon said car body.

6. In a car frame the combination of a series of upright thrust members, a longitudinal top chord clesignedto be brought into tension when applied to the car body, and two diagonal braces designed to be brought into tension When applied to the car body, the parts being riveted and the Whole frame sides When applied to the car body acting as a truss to stiffen the frame, but not supporting any of the Weight of the car body.

GEORGE W. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

L. F. MGCREA, SAMUEL N. POND. 

